Cozumel 2013 Day 2

Our second day on the island began with two dives in the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Tammy and Marty dropped us off and soon we were on the Ana Luz with our Dive Master, Jaime and two other divers. We dove at the Palancar Deep and the Cedral Pass areas of the reef. Here are a few of the many photos that we took today. Hope you enjoy them and we look forward to reading your comments.

Butterfly Fish

File Fish & Giant Sponge

File Fish

Giant Sponge with Spider Crab

Nudi-Branch (about 1/2 inch long)

Baby French Angel Fish (about 1/4 inch long)

Swim Through the Coral

This Mutton Snapper Followed Us On Our Entire

First Dive!

Cozumel 2013 Day 1

Left Seguin at 4:30 this morning for an early flight to Cozumel with a stop in Houston. Heather and Charli Johnson picked us up right on time and 55 minutes later we were checked in and standing in the TSA security line. Everything was going great: plane was on time; flight to Houston was wonderfully uneventful and smooth; and then came the e-mail. Yep, you guessed it. The flight from Houston to Cozumel was delayed by and hour and a half due to mechanical problems with the aircraft in Florida. The an hour and a half became two, and eventually three. United gave us vouchers for food, but come on folks, we're burning daylight and dive time! Finally a second plane arrived and we were off to Cozumel, three hours late. The flight was fine and provided and opportunity for a quick nap. Arrival in Cozumel and moving through customs was busy, slow, but we had no problems. The staff at Casa Martillo greeted us with smiles and hugs and after settling into our new digs we checked in at the Dive Paradise dive shop. A quick trip to the grocery store and back home for our first Mexico meal of the year: Homemade chalupas, guacamole, and pastry. Now, it's time for some much needed rest and then our first two dives at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Watch for pictures and more blog notes. Good night all!

Cozumel 2012 - Final Day

Well, today we are packing and heading home from another ten days in earthly paridise. You may have noticed that their are no pictures posted from the last several days. This blog is so slow to work with. Each photo must be uploaded to the "site" individually (not as a group), then loaded to the blog site. It was taking two hours to put together one day (only 10-12 photos out of about 100 taken) and that was really eating into siesta time! I'll load more on Facebook as time allows and I hope you'll enjoy them. Buenos Dias.............see you soon.

Cozumel 2012 - Day 6

This morning the sun was shining and the current was perfect of drift diving the reefs of Palancar Horseshoe and Cedral Pass. While we didn't see the black tip sharks we'd hoped to, the dives were great and we got some good photos. We'll share some with you and hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them. Please leave a comment. Thanks.

This Lobster was estimated to weigh about 3 Kilos.



Queen Angel with her court of Yellow Tail Snappers

Our Dive Master, Julio, with a Sea Turtle

Nudi-Branch (3/4" long)

Spiney Sea Urchin

Jelly Fish (about 2" long body)

Bliter Worm. Don't Touch!

Three Shrimp in this Sea Anenome. Can you find them?

File Fish

School Is In Session for these Hog Fish

Beautiful Queen Angel

Simple but Beautiful Sea Scape

Cozumel 2012 - Day 5

Today's diving was "fly diving." The currents were very strong so there are few good photos, as we were traveling too fast to focus. We saw some great sea life on Columbia Reef and Dalila Reef. For the first time since we started diving, a diver on our boat was placed on oxygen and sent in on another boat. This young man had been out binge drinking last night, decended to about 50 feet and then swam straight to the surface. It's a long story, but it could have killed him and it's a good lesson of "diving while stupid." Don't ever do it! The incident made us appreciate our Dive Master, Julio, and the dive shop, Dive Paradise, that much more.

Grey Ray

Sand Eel -- There was a colony of these (maybe 20) in the sand, standing 6-8 inches out of the sand. As you approach, zip, down they go!

This is not Nemo, but it's close!

Juvenile Peacock Flounder. This little dude is about 2" long and very hard to find.

Sea Scape with Black Grouper

Octopus, at home in his hole with little fish standing guard.

Lizard Fish

Cozumel 2012 - Day 4

Overcast skys and 82 degrees, both on the surface and at 95 feet below. Fantastic dives beginning on Santa Rosa Wall, then across the sand to Santa Rosa Shallows. The current changed on us mid-dive. Second dive was on Punta Tuniche Reef (Rocky Point). We're trying to post photos today of critters not yet posted. Some are not great in clairty, but you'll get the idea of variety. Please leave a comment and enjoy the photos. (We tried to post a short video, but this blog web page is way too slow. We'll post more of FB next week.)

This little Jelly Fish greeted Reva on her decent to Santa Rosa Wall.

One of many Lobster on today's dives. MmmmMmmm!

Cleaning Shrimp inside a large sponge.

The only Sea Horse we've seen this week.

We know you've seen a Splended Toad Fish already, but check this dudes teeth out!

A beautiful Queen Angel dining out.

This big Crab lost one major pincher in a fight, but he said he was the winner. Hate to see the loser!

Mitch caught this Red Hind napping.

A couple of Hog Fish out for a morning stroll.

Yes, there's a Trumpet Fish in there. Can you find him?

Sweet Baby Drum Fish.

Cozumel 2012 - Day 3

Today was a beautiful day of diving. It was supposed to be storming, but apparently the storm chose to bypass Cozumel, and we appreciated that very much. Our first dive was on a reef named Palancar Caves, for those of you familiar with the reef system. There are many cave-like swim throughs in this area and the dive was to a maximum depth of about 90 feet. Our 2nd dive was on a reef that is far down the island to the south and is our favorite location. We will probably go back two or three more times this week. It's name is Columbia Shallows and the maximum depth is about 30 feet. For those who aren't divers, you may think that since it's not deep, it's not good. You would be wrong. The sunlight penetrates nicely throughout the entire reef system and the colors are beautiful. It is probably the very best place to take pictures. Today the area we were in yeilded an abundance of sea turtles and nurse sharks along with a vast array of tropical fish along with a few sting rays, lobster, and other cool critters. These are just a few of 180 or so photos we took today. We hope you enjoy them and we're looking for your comments. God bless.

Grunt Fish

File Fish



Nassu Grouper (approx. 48 - 54 inches long)



French Angels

Nurse Shark with Grunt Keeping Guard

Sea Turtle

Juvenile Queen Angel (approx. 1 1/2" lg. Great shot, Reva)

Green Sponge (ask Scott Mills what it's used for)

Four Eyed Butterfly Fish

Male Parrot Fish

Orange Warsse

We found no mermaids, but this "old man of the sea" followed us around all day. Actually, our Dive Master, Julio, always kids Mitch about being an old man, so when Mitch found this stick of wood on he sea floor, he had to have some fun!